Eula Mae's Seafood Gumbo Reviews

Epicurious
September 1999

3/4

reviews (20)

75%

make it again

If you can, buy fresh shrimp with shells and heads still intact. If
the heads have been removed, don't worry. Peel the shrimp and use the
shells to make shrimp stock. Put the shells (and heads) in a small
stockpot. Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to
medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for about 1 hour. Remove from the heat,
strain through a fine sieve, and set aside. If you don't have shrimp stock,
water can be substituted.

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Reviews

users rating3/4

It was interesting from a historical standpoint. This was an authentic recipe from a long line of Cajun folks. It was somewhat plain or bland unless you added tabasco. The File powder needs to be mixed into the bowl otherwise the powder gets stuck in your throat! File is crushed sassafras tree leaves. Tastes somewhat like tea leaves. I think this type of dish was improved upon by the creole influence where they added white wine, tomatoes. sausage, and okra.

It's a great recipe. Like others, I find a recipe for a start and then do my own thing. Even though I'm not from the south, I always use okra in my gumbo. And usually add tomatoes. But I am amazed at the comments...did those people never use or heard of peanut oil? I can't believe that they used peanut butter but it's the ONLY explanation of why their gumbo had any peanut butter taste! Ah, the things people do,ya gotta love it!

Followed this to the letter, including
the long process of making the stock
with the shrimp shells, frying bacon to
get some of the fat for the roux, and
then the tedious roux itself, and found
this very disappointing. "Bland" is
the best description I can come up with.

This is about the most
authentic recipe I've seen.
Growing up in one of New
Orleans' oldest families
(since 1721), I
think I know what I am
talking about. The only
differences I can see is
the use of butter instead
of oil, and we used just
about everything we had
on hand including
chicken, beef, and pork.
My father only used Gulf
shrimp and sometimes
liked to use the same
kind of salt pork he used
for red beans and rice
when making his
Thanksgiving Gumbo.
Oh, and go with the
"brick" roux and file'!!!!

Listen up folks -
the key to this
gumbo is using
bacon grease for
the roux. Whenever
you cook bason, let
the extra grease
cool and put in a
jar with lid and
keep in fridge. It
takes alomost 45
mins for roux to be
right color. Also,
when you serve it,
put small scoop of
white rice in a
mound and put gumbo
around rice and
sprinkle with green
onion. If you can,
use large prawns
AND med prawns,
chicken wings cut
in pcs and lots of
chunks of andouille
sausage, lots of
crab, oysters.. You
wont be
disappointed if you
follow my
directions. I make
this every year and
my Southern african
american friends
say its authentic
and I'm chinese !

We thought this was an above average gumbo. Per someone else's comment I used butter to make my roux and cooked until it was a milk chocolate color. I pretty much adhered to the recipe except for the change in the type of fat used. I also added cayenne for some heat.

From a cook in New Iberia to the cook in Metarie. Cajun is roux and file while Creole is tomatoes and okra. Both versions of seafood gumbo are wonderful, but from someone who lives about 10 miles from Eula Mae, I'll go with the brown roux and file.

Made this this weekend for our Mardi Gras event. Tripled the recipe, and it was great. But, not familiar with seafood cooking (midwest person), I cooked the gumbo far to long. I thought I could let it simmer until my guests wanted to eat. By that time, the shrimp were chewy - My mistake. Will try again, but I'll sub. butter for the oil as the last reviewer suggests (The glass of wine idea is a good one -making the roux is a bit tedious!).